Financial News
Banking equities hit by profit-taking
Trading in the two major banks resembled more of a roller coaster ride yesterday, as share prices first fell abruptly to unpredictable levels, only to return back with a vengeance and recoup most of their losses by the closing bell.
The Malta Stock Exchange Index managed to contain its losses to a mere 0.8 per cent, to close at 4,459 points.
Bank of Valletta shares ended the day in the red with a loss of 0.8 per cent, at Lm6.90. Initial trading commenced at the day's highest limit of Lm6.95 and continued at Lm6.90. At this level trading seemed to be stuck, with little or no trades executed for quite a long time until sellers gave up and pushed the price down all the way to Lm6.69. This brought up renewed interest in the equity which in a matter of a few minutes was back to Lm6.90.
Trading in HSBC Bank Malta shares followed a similar pattern, with the share price even closing at Lm6.90. The equity traded within a very wide range between Lm6.98 and Lm6.77 but managed to narrow its loss to a mere 10c.
In the rest of the banking sector Lombard Bank and FIMBank shares moved in the opposite direction, with minimal price fluctuations. The former retreated by 2c to Lm7.08 while the latter edged up by 0c1 to $1.85. Maltacom shares ended unchanged at Lm1.70 for the second consecutive day notwithstanding yesterday's news that the CEO of the company has been demoted to a lower position. In the remaining trades for the day Malta International Airport shares gained 1c5 to Lm1.51c5 while International Hotel Investments shares added a mere 0c1 to €0.75c1.
Mining stocks push London to four-year high
London's main equities market broke through to a fresh four-year high yesterday with resource stocks again leading the charge. The FTSE 100 was up 66.3 points or 1.1 per cent to 5,526.2 in late morning trade, its highest level since August 2001.
The Nikkei 225 stock average hit its highest level since Junichiro Koizumi became Prime Minister in April 2001, with a strong performance by both exporters and domestically-focused stocks. The index touched 14,633.35 at one point, its highest intraday level since December 2000, before closing up 1.5 per cent at 14,623.12, its highest close in almost five years. The Topix rose 1.4 per cent to 1,531.65.
The continued strong performance of internet group Google provided a stark contrast to the deepening crisis at General Motors on Thursday, as shares in the search engine powered above $400. The stock has risen more than 300 per cent since it went public in August last year and was pushed up another 1.3 per cent to $403.45 as the group's widening product range and the soaring growth in online advertising helped fuel investors' bullish expectations for it.
The FTSE Eurofirst 300 rose 13 points or 1.1 per cent to 1,243.9 while the German Xetra Dax added 56.1 points or 1.1 per cent at 5,155.8 and the French CAC 40 rose 46 points or 1.1 per cent to 4,569.2 more than General Motors.